What I Learned From Pancreatic Cancer, Nate Joy Shares His Story

When Nate Joy was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at 45 his prognoses didn't look good – but more than a year later he's still here and he's learned a thing or two

A few days before his 45th birthday Nate Joy was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Nate is a non-smoker and had always led a healthy, active lifestyle. So being told he had pancreatic cancer came as a frightening shock to the Leavenworth resident.

A pancreatic cancer diagnoses is usually tantamount to a death sentence. It’s hard to detect and usually by the time you know you have it, it has already spread to other parts of the body.

But in his case they caught it just in time.

“They were viewing me as a pretty high risk for metastasizing,” he said. “Fortunately at the time of diagnoses there was no indication that it had spread.”

This was Spring 2023.

For the next year, Nate, his wife and family embarked on an a medical Odyssey navigating through chemotherapy, a surgery, radiation, pain, fear and recovery. But eventually he emerged as triumphal as the eponymous mythic figure.

He said one of the things that got him through, or guided him through as he put it, was his Penelope – his wife Terra.

They had just celebrated their 20-year anniversary when he was diagnosed and the two basically grew up together.

“We do everything together,” he said. “We actually work together. We have our own business. We have coffee every morning with our two little puppies.”

He said one of his greatest fears throughout his ordeal is that he was going to leave her alone. Once pancreatic cancer spreads it’s more about managing the progression rather than saving the patient’s life.

“For someone who has been diagnosed, there is a very narrow path to a ‘cure,’” he said.

At one point his oncologist started preparing him for the worst. They had found some lesions on his liver and it looked as if the cancer had spread.

It took several weeks to know for certain, but the cancer had not spread. And after chemo his oncologist decided he was a good candidate for a procedure called the Whipple surgery. According to the Mayo Clinic, the procedure involves removing the head of the pancreas, the first part of the small intestine, the gallbladder and the bile duct.

His doctor had waited until the end of his treatments because the surgery is so difficult and invasive that if the cancer spreads it’s not worth the trouble.

As scary and painful as it was, there were times when he experienced the beauty of life in visceral ways only those who are seriously contemplating their own mortality can.

He recalls times with his sister during chemo sessions. She would bring music playlists to cheer him up and distract him. He said the two bonded during those times.

“We had this moment in our relationship that I just treasure,” he said.

Those experiences left him with a deep sense of gratitude.

“I just said this to her yesterday: ‘Thank you. I’m just so glad you were there during this worst time of my life,’” he said.

The most intense part of the process was the recovery. There’s also the fact that the cancer could return.

“Still to this day I’m not out of the woods,” he said.

That fact is literally the first thing his surgeon said to him after he woke up from the surgery that removed the tumor from his pancreas.

“There’s about an 80% chance that even if this surgery was completely successful that the cancer will come back,” he said.

But it has been about a year now since his recovery and there’s no sign the cancer has returned. The goal now is to get to five years cancer-free, at which point his doctors say he should be out of the woods.

“I’m just so grateful for that second chance at life,” he said.

His advice to others who may be on their own journey with cancer, or might face one in the future, is to not let cancer stop you from living. During his cancer journey he made a point of getting outdoors, going for walks and even paddle-boarding.

You can watch our full interview in the video above, and check out Nate and Terra’s travel blog here.

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